To the Editor:
The City Manager believes it’s simply public misperception that backroom deals exist in Snohomish City government (“Survey: City Hall can be more transparent,” May 11 Tribune).
The city’s recent failed attempt to force the placement of a cell tower next to the Boys and Girls Club is a prime example of backroom dealing. The city worked behind closed doors with Verizon for over a year before fully informing the public of the unvetted plan. It also appears the city circumvented its own rules and procedures, obtained the silence of the Boys and Girls Club director and improperly removed a deed restriction to the property without bringing the change to the City Council for a vote.
I invite city officials to practice the transparency being touted by fully addressing the details of this failed endeavor in a public forum.
City officials can either continue to dismiss dissenters as uninvolved, “lazy-minded” cynics or they can heed their own Open Government study and begin to acknowledge the legitimacy of citizens’ complaints.